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Allegiance
"Allegiance" is the 18th episode of season 3, and the 63rd produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on March 25, 2014. Synopsis Finch and Reese must delve into the murky waters of international politics when they are given the number of a former government contractor who is stalking a UN diplomat. Also, an enemy attempts to gain an upper hand on Root. Origin of the Title Allegiance is the fidelity of a citizen to his/her nation or leader, sometimes expressed in the form of an oath or pledge. Allegiance may be extended to the land of one's birth, or to an adopted land. It may also refer to loyalty to a group, an individual or a cause, at times to the point of fanaticism. Main Plot Points *The Team is given the number of Maria Martinez, an engineer for HydralCorp. As Shaw runs surveillance, Maria gets a phone call about a meeting and a package and steals a GPS tracker. As a result, Shaw and Reese begin to suspect that she is a terrorist and a relevant number. *Root contacts Finch and tells him she doesn't know anything about his number and is tracking John Greer. Root states that the stolen computer chip has already been back-engineered and replicated a thousand times and stopping Greer may be their only chance to stop Samaritan from being brought online. *To counter Root's tracking of him, Greer has the subway's security cameras shut off, loud noise piped through the speakers and drops his cell phone in the pocket of another man, allowing him to successfully avoid the Machine's surveillance abilities. *Reese and Shaw spy on a meeting between Maria and Jamal Risha where Jamal gives Maria a package Reese and Shaw suspect to be a bomb and discuss Jamal's brother Omar who is being held on suspicion of terrorism. Reese follows Jamal while Shaw follows Maria. *Shaw runs surveillance on Maria outside of the UN with Fusco's help. Shaw at first suspects Maria is taking surveillance pictures in preparation for a terrorist attack on the UN but instead realizes she's taking pictures of a man Finch identifies as a French diplomat named Rene Lapointe who is responsible for if Jamal's brother Omar gets asylum or not. Shaw witnesses Maria plant the stolen GPS tracker on Lapointe's car and tells Finch that Lapointe is her target. *Fusco and Shaw follow Maria and Lapointe to a restaurant where Maria pulls evidence out of the package that she insists proves that Omar is not a terrorist and asks Lapointe reconsider Omar's asylum request. Lapointe refuses and refuses to reveal the evidence stating that Omar is a terrorist and attempts to get Maria thrown out. However, Greek diplomat Christos Sevon intervenes and offers his help to Maria's cause.. *Omar translated a document revealing that Maria's boss Ken Davis had the generators shipped elsewhere. Omar is then taken for deportation but is intercepted by Reese and rescued. *Fusco questions Davis on his activities, but Davis is unconcerned and leaves when his lawyer arrives. *With the help of Christos Sevon, Maria breaks into Lapointe's office and searches for the real letter. Despite Sevon trying to convince her to leave, Maria continues searching and is able to find the real letter. *Finch hacks into the HydralCorp Intranet and on the instructions of Root, does a search for Habur Gate and discovers a customs form for the generators signed by Christos Sevon. *Borrowing Bear, Root tracks Greer who meets with Ken Davis who stole the generators for Decima Technologies. Greer then has Davis taken away, presumably to be executed and Root begins following Greer once again. *Root follows Greer into the subway where he uses the same tactics as the last time to lose her. However, Root is able to use Bear's sense of smell to follow Greer into an empty hallway where he waits for her. Episode Notes * This episode features Algerian members of the French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère). Founded in 1831, the FFL comprises units of foreign nationals willing to fight for the French government, often in Africa. Units often come from former colonial principalities, such as the Algerians in this episode. Algeria, a former French colony in North Africa, was the first FFL base, from which the FFL was used to maintain France's colonial interests in the region as late as the 1960s. The FFL has a long romantic history as a place for wronged Victorian men to find their honor that is at odds with its actual early intent to use local troops to keep colonized nations under control. * Nowruz '''takes place on or near the spring equinox (in late March) and is also known as '''Persian New Year. It is celebrated in many places that were formerly under Persian cultural influence, such as Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq on March 20. Its literal meaning is "New Day". * When Root mentions that she "wants the Machine to be free", it is possible that Greer knows about the Machine's existence, but is seen with only a red square. * In , the Machine calculated Maria Martinez's death to be at 78.24% because she was a threat to the development of Samaritan. In this episode, the nature of the threat is revealed as her investigation into the theft of 6 hydroelectric generators made her a threat to Ken Davis and his affiliation with Decima. * Shaw mentions that the Safe-House is equipped with an Electromagnetic Lock, which are often used in apartments and work offices. Electromagnetic locks work by inducing a magnetic field via a changing current, thus allowing the door to magnetically open or shut. These locks come in two main types: fail safe and fail secure, which describes how the lock reacts in the case of an emergency. Most buildings have to utilize a fail safe lock based on building regulation codes so that, in the case of an emergency, people won't be locked inside buildings and can easily escape. Fail-secure, on the other hand, are used to protect valuables so that if there is an emergency (in the case of a break-in), then the valuables will be secured. Production Notes * This episode uses a storytelling device known as a full-circle ending. The full circle in this case is Root's two pursuits of Greer through the subway tunnels, once at the beginning of the episode and once at the end, with very different outcomes. Bloopers and Continuity Errors Music Trivia * It's revealed that the Machine can use it 'ears' to calculate someone's location. It does this by measuring the weight of the person's step. This is a more advanced application of gait analysis systems, which use biometric scans of a person's weight and pace to identify him. * Root tells the man she suspected to be Greer, "Sorry, thought you were my uncle." This may be a reference to the fact Root sees the Machine as her mother. That would make Samaritan her mother's (the Machine's) metaphorical brother. It could also be an in-joke to the fact that John Nolan, who plays Greer, is showrunner Jonathan Nolan's uncle. * This episode takes place during the week of March 17th. This is assumed because the date at the end takes place on March 20th. *Finch uses the alias "Mr. Kingfisher", another bird reference, when he and Reese pose as Omar's lawyers. * The scene in which Reese shoots a man holding a knife is a reference to the famous scene from ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' in which Indiana Jones shoots a swordsman who is showing off and wants to fight him. *Since The Machine provides Root with step-by-step instructions, technically when Root took custody of Bear to help track down John Greer, the Machine is using Bear as an asset. Quotes * "Maybe the Machine got its wires crossed?" (Reese, to Finch & Shaw) "Ever since it's had that cochlear cuckoo on speed dial..." (Shaw, to Finch & Reese) * "The Machine has alerted me that our elusive adversary is back in town; eliminating him might be our last opportunity at stopping Samaritan." (Root, to Finch) * "I'll be in touch, next time my ear starts burning..." (Root, to Finch) * "I've made a new friend, but I'm not feeling particularly sociable." (Greer) * "Beirut." (Shaw, to Reese) "Baghdad." (Reese, to Shaw) "Baghdad for masgûf. Saddam knew his fish, I'll give you that. But shwarma? Hah. Beirut hands down." (Shaw, to Reese) * "Oh, I should've just stolen a badge." (Shaw, to Fusco) * "You know, you really should get out more. Learn something about other cultures." (Shaw, to Fusco) "What're you talking about? I just ate a falafel!" (Fusco) "Yeah, and you got some on your tie." (Shaw) * "Personally I prefer potassium chloride to chloroform -- acts quicker and no trace in postmortem toxicology." (Shaw, to French Legionnaire Operative) * "What's our ETA on Captain America?" (Shaw, to Finch) * "Your boy there's got issues. Hope that guy has health insurance." (Fusco) * "Are you really suggesting we break into the United Nations?..." (Finch, to Reese, Shaw & Omar) "I have an idea, but it's going to require a smokescreen and a big-ass truck." (Reese) * "Stop playing with the horn, Lionel." (Reese, to Fusco) * "Oh, by the way, I'm borrowing your dog." (Root, to Finch) * "Second round is always more accurate than the first." (Reese, to French Legionnaire Operative) * "Excusez-moi!" (Fusco, to French Legionnaire Operative) * "So much for payback." (Reese) * "Go figure. Turns out immunity doesn't stop you from bleeding." (Fusco, to Savan) * "That's what's great about New York. You don't have to travel to learn about other cultures. They all come here." (Fusco, to Shaw) * "Happy New Year, Sameen." (Fusco, to Shaw) * "Speaking of allies: I do hope that Root isn't feeding Bear any chocolate." (Finch, to Reese) * "You have some things that don't belong to you: two hard drives, a superconducting chip, and six generators. Which means, either you're planning to bring Samaritan online, or you're the world's most ambitious gamer." (Root, to Greer) * "I never feel civilized negotiating from the end of the barrel. Either end. Shall we call this one a draw?" (Greer, to Root) Media Going Down|Going Down Until Next Time|Until Next Time References es:Allegiance Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes Category:Season 3 Episodes